Welcome to the website of the Digital Media Law Project. The DMLP was a project of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society from 2007 to 2014. Due to popular demand the Berkman Klein Center is keeping the website online, but please note that the website and its contents are no longer being updated. Please check any information you find here for accuracy and completeness.

Definitions

(a) "Improper means" includes theft, bribery,
misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to
maintain secrecy, or espionage through electronic or other means.
Reverse engineering or independent derivation alone shall not be
considered improper means.

(b) "Misappropriation" means:

(1) Acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person who
knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by
improper means; or

(2) Disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who:

(A) Used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret; or

(B) At the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his or her knowledge of the trade secret was:

(i) Derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it;

(ii) Acquired under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

(iii) Derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

(C) Before a material change of his or her position, knew or
had reason to know that it was a trade secret and that knowledge of it
had been acquired by accident or mistake.

Remedies

If a court finds that a defendant has misappropriated a plaintiff's trade secret(s), it may impose the following remedies:

Injunctive Relief: CUTSA empowers a court to order a
defendant to stop violating the plaintiff's rights and to take steps to
preserve the secrecy of the plaintiff's information. Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.2
(scroll down). Most importantly, this means that a court has the
authority, as far as the law of trade secrets goes, to order you to
stop publishing someone's trade secrets if it finds that your
publication amounts to misappropriation. The First Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution may limit the court's ability to do so, however. For
details, see Publishing Trade Secrets.

Damages: A court can make a defendant pay money damages
to the plaintiff for the economic harm suffered as a result of a trade
secret violation. This may include the plaintiff's losses resulting
from the misappropriation and the defendant's profits derived from it.
If the court determines that the defendant acted willfully or
maliciously, it may award the plaintiff punitive damages in an amount
up to twice its actual damages. Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.3 (scroll down).

Attorneys' Fees: If a plaintiff sues and wins, the court
may award attorneys' fees if it finds that the defendant acted
willfully or maliciously. On the other hand, if the defendant wins, the
court may award attorneys' fees if it finds that the plaintiff acted in
bad faith when filing the lawsuit. The court may also award attorneys'
fees if a motion to terminate an injunction is made or resisted in bad
faith. Cal Civ. Code § 3426.4 (scroll down).

We are looking for contributing authors with expertise in media law, intellectual property, First Amendment, and other related fields to join us as guest bloggers. If you are interested, please contact us for more details.

Disclaimer

Information in this guide is based on general principles of law and is intended for information purposes only; we make no claim as to the comprehensiveness or accuracy of the information. It is not offered for the purpose of providing individualized legal advice. Use of this guide does not create an attorney-client or any other relationship between the user and the Digital Media Law Project or the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Newsletters

Main menu

Copyright 2007-17 Digital Media Law Project and respective authors. Except where otherwise noted,content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License: Details.Use of this site is pursuant to our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.